Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted an American invitation to sit down with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the Annapolis conference next week, in direct opposition to his statement this week he would not talk with anyone who does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
"We won't have an argument with anyone in the world over the fact that Israel is a state of the Jewish people," the Prime Minister stated. "Whoever does not accept this cannot hold any negotiations with me."